Jay Bothroyd – The frame that launched a thousand moves in a team that’s won 11 penalties already!

By: Martyn | December 7th, 2008

As I spent another hour and a half of my life with my blood pressure rising to mortal status removing levels (yes yes, I know we won 2-0, but ride with me), I at last realised that our central midfield isn’t supposed to create anything. Now why my mind was wandering during a game of football involving my favourite team is easy to answer because if anyone else had witnessed the first half that we were subjected to at Ninian Park yesterday then you’d understand why: Long balls, awful control, an inability to string anything together, and a game flatter than everyone’s favourite Stanley. My apologies messrs Collymore, Matthews and Accrington. Back to the central pairing in the midfield, and all season long, us City fans have bemoaned the fact that our centre midfield has been useless in the creativity department, staying and playing too deep, and generally just embrassingly and frustratingly lethargic. Now I can finally see the idea behind Dave Jones’s tactical set-up, and how it can be effective for victories like the one we had over Preston North End yesterday.

We’ve had various formations this season, but yesterday’s take on a 4-3-3 but is it a 4-4-2, oh, no, wait it is 4-3-3 (made confusing by the interchangable roles afforded to Parry and Bothroyd, the former switching with the latter and Routledge more often than you read the phrase ‘BBC Sport understands’ with every news story the corporation gives to you as supposed FACT) epitomised who the four most creative players in the team are: The right-back (Kevin McNaughton), *deep breath* I’m wary of using the term wingers because they are far removed from the ones worthy of the title as it described such players in yesteryear so those who position themselves on blades of grass roughly sandwiched between the centre midfield and the touchline (Paul Parry and Wayne Routledge – Peter Whittingham has been far and away the most effective player in this position, but he’s currently injured. As an aside, I spotted he, Capaldi and Eddie Johnson – sat away from the other two?!! – watching yesterday’s game and not even a round of applause was sparked by either of our goals. So much for team spirit!), and the central striker (Jay Bothroyd).* When you have players as creative in different ways as these 4 are (Parry and Routledge with the dribbling and crossing, McNaughton with the passing and overlap running, Bothroyd with the holding and bringing others into the play) then the need for creativity in the centre of the park is lessened. Therefore, all you really need the centre midfield pairing to be doing is winning the ball back and keeping their position so the team’s defensive frailties aren’t exposed. Saying that, doing these most basic of chores has been an issue all season long and nothing I saw yesterday changed my opinion on that.

*Now some City fans will be wondering as to why I haven’t included Ross McCormack in the list, but this is because his main aim is to hunt down the keeper and welly a ball towards his abode or luring in a tackle in the hope of winning a PK or FK. Whenever he has played in a wide midfield role (like in the game last week versus the Swans) he has been relatively limited and can’t get to grips with the idea of not being the focal point of our goal threat.

A quick note on the opposition PNE who were above us in the league table before kick-off. I want to make the usual jokes about neck-craning enthusiasts need only bother paying to see them, how seagulls should be wearing helmets should they travel anywhere near the ground at which Preston are playing, and how maybe the entire North End squad have feet that are allergic to leather. But making a note about wanting to make the usual jokes about long ball, route one football has done the job for me without my brain needed to break into a creative sweat. That’s a tad unfair actually as I thought for the opening 15 minutes they took advantage of our midfield being pressed back and were in no mood to retreat back into their own half, and their no. 9 Chris Brown had a decent touch and a rucksack of tricks (the industrious Richard Chaplow wasn’t too bad either). But the rest of ‘em from back to front were pretty inept for the remaining 75 minutes. With 24 minutes on the clock, Preston had 10 men defending and it was as if they’d given up on the idea of being positive. Likewise, Lonergan’s kicking and Mawene’s fear of doing something useful with or getting rid of the ball were particular highlights for those of us non-Lilywhites. To be fair to Alan Irvine mind, at least he went with a 4-4-2 formation. I was starting to get sick of seeing every opposition play a 4-5-1 formation because we simply cannot hack it. I don’t know if Irvine had merely not done his research on our biggest weakness, or if he was playing to his team’s strengths and they just had an off day. The return fixture at Deepdale or Preston continuing to stay in play-off contention will perhaps reveal all.

Players in rank order. And here are the Wales Online ratings. Spot the difference of opinion in a certain area of the park.

Wayne Routledge – Took the term ’showboating’ to new levels yesterday. Routledge was playing for fun and it’s so apparent that he is enjoying his football once again. We were treated to stepovers, dummy runs, shoulder drops, flicks, nutmegs, the works. It’s passages of play such as these that remind you for all the negative 4-5-1’s and ‘keep it simple’ messages the game is now ridden with, it’s still got fun in it somewhere! It wasn’t all tricks and flicks from the pint-sized party player mind. His delivery was met by Johnson’s head for the first goal, and it was his urgency to get on the ball that also provided a catalyst for the victory. After a woeful clearance from Lonergan, Routledge positioned himself ready to shoot from 30 yards out into an open goal. He was cynically hauled down and the City players were howling for the referee to brandish a red card. As it was, only a yellow was shown, and maybe this sense of injustice spurred us on.

Jay Bothroyd – As the title of this post illustrates, most of the good play we produce comes through Bothroyd. Given a hero’s applause as he was taken off late on, his biggest contribution being the penalty he won.

Paul Parry – Parry’s body language and performance in the first half were utter garbage. And I can’t exaggerate how anonymous he was. Yet in the second half, Parry was a world-beater. He skipped past his marker with ease on so many occasions, it was like playing a game of Barcelona-Chester on FIFA ‘09 on ‘Amateur’. Not only that, his delivery was of a great standard too. Would have been MOTM were it not for that shoddy first half showing.

Roger Johnson – We were pretty dire at the start of the game, and with Captain for the day Joe Ledley as quiet as a deaf mouse, every corner of Ninian Park could hear Johnson scream “F***IN”” LIVEN UP!!!!!!”. And if that being vocal nonsense wasn’t going to work, Johnson then did the leading by example bit by buring a header. Top stuff. Unfortunately, his poor passing blighted an otherwise awesome performance.

Gabor Gyepes – Dependent and once he gets his foot in strikers really struggle to get a say in what is going to happen next with the ball.

Kevin McNaughton – Got forward well and one careless error early on that went unpunished (he headed a stray ball back into our box in a bizarre case of decision making), did little wrong.

Michael Chopra – Was clearly not fit and played for longer than Dave Jones would have liked having been brought on due to the substitution of McCormack early on. As a result, he worried the defence and keeper on a handful of occasions rather than being a persistent pain-in-the-arse. Regardless, Chopra dispatched yet another penalty and even at half fit offers more than many strikers in this division. And a Chopra with broken legs would offer more than Eddie Johnson.

Gavin Rae – How Wales Online believe he was MOTM is bewildering. I’m not gonna use words like ‘awful’, ‘poor’, etc, because the former Glasgow Rangers wasn’t any of them. It’s just I felt he only came into the game and started dictating when Preston went 2-0 down and finally decided to seriously try and score a goal. The rest of the game saw him put in a few decent tackles and play one or two nice passes (ruined by several sloppier ones) but by and large he was glued in a position barely 2 or 3 metres in front of the centre backs. How Dave Jones believes this gets the best out of the centre midfield players at the club I do not know. Perhaps the poor performances they have all been offering this season are related to their frustration at having been stifled?

Peter Enckelman – Seemed determined to emulate Tom Heaton with a 2 or 3 of his kicks and clearances – which are normally superb – but redeemed himself by not doing the 8-10 bad kicks Heaton normally offers and making a few top notch stops.

Ross McCormack – Cleverly won a FK on the edge of the box but did little else of note other than ping in two shots to warm the hands of Lonergan in the North End goal. Something was clearly amiss and it was clearly related to the injury he was carrying which saw him depart early on.

Miguel Comminges – Hoof, opposition keeper collects. Hoof, opposition keper collects. Thank God he only came on as a sub and wasn’t given enough time to lose us the game.

Mark Kennedy – Sloppy and inconsistent, before limping off late on. Yet another injury for us to deal with.

Joe Ledley – Was surprisingly made captain in the absence or Purse and McPhail, although cynics like myself reason that it was a decision taken for reasons other than footballing ones. I suppose selling him as the captain as the team may add one or two extra pounds to his value, and obviously there’s the sentimental side of things: He’s had a go at being captain before he sets off for pastures new. That looks nice on his CV. Now you’d think that being made captain would mean he’d lead the team by example or be mouthy and vocal, f’ing and blinding in the hope of goading a team into half-decency. Well, Joe was neither. At times he was in the position of a defensive midfielder in the mould of a Zanetti or Senna. But then you realised he was actually lost on the field, either through a lack of motivation or just the fact that he’s not as good as the hype makes him out to be as he will never offer a consistent level of performance that allows him to succeed at the top level. If he would just reman switched on for 90 minutes a week then things could be soooo different. Poor touches, poor shooting, poor positioning, casualness and being off the pace have become all too familiar characteristics this season.

Riccy Scimeca – N/A

Majorly O/T: After last week’s Swansea rant, it may come as a surprise to see me writing something in praise of their manager Roberto Martinez. Now I’ve said this before, but even those City fans who have bluebird symbols tattooed on their genitals, forehead, or lips must admit that Roberto Martinez as a man is hard to dislike. Both gracious in victory and defeat, he is a true gentleman and a credit to a game in which the managers of the big four EPL teams are allowed to say what the hell they like and more often than not get away with it. The reason I’m writing this is because Martinez criticised the Swans fans for giving Lee Trundle too much love in yesterday’s game against Bristol City. Now I’ve expressed my feelings about Swansea supporters and the helium-voiced alien lookalike before, but the reason this story interested me was because of a similar incident away to Nottingham Forest this season with my own far more important team. All game long, as he was warming up and then when he made the step on to the field, Earnie was gifted a reception akin to the one Catholics offer the Pope. Or Artur Boruc. As a fan who witnessed Robert Earnshaw’s debut and last game for the club, I understand what his goals brought us in terms of success, memories, and the chance to have a modern day legend. But that day, Earnie had the red shirt of an opposing team on, and seeing him receive more support than the team and players in blue realy did irk me. By all means clap and cheer him before and after the game, but during the game he is an opposition player there to be ignored. Martinez love-in ended.

Preston’s rivals Burnley are next up. It’s really rather annoying because I’m occupied in dull matters non-football until 5pm and therefore unable to make the game. A double bummer because I’ve never been to Turf Moor and would love to go. Nevertheless, I’m certain those loyal fans who do make the journey will give the team 110% as per in a game against one of the league’s (and Carling Cup’s) form teams. It will be rather ironic if Burnley go up this season AND make the Carling Cup final because of a certain ex-City player they have their on books – Steve ‘Magic Hat’ Thompson. Dave Jones wanted him out for well over a year before he finally got his wish, and if Thommo was to play in two major finals in the space of 9 months, as well as ending up a Premier League striker, it’d make the £0 fee we received for him look pretty darn silly. To mildly state it.